Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill
by NancyDrewLuvr96
Summary: Nancy Drew's younger sister Athena Drew along with Athena's boyfriend go to Florida to visit her Aunt Eloise, only to end up in the middle of a murder case. Follow the mystery, adventure and danger as the two teen detectives try to uncover the murder of Jake Rodgers.
1. Chapter 1: Aunt Eloise

(Athena's POV)

Hello my name's Athena Drew, younger sister to Nancy Drew. I'm 16 years old, with long blonde hair and bright blue eyes. I'm 5"4' with a curvy body and an I.Q. of 197. I enjoy reading, singing, playing piano, solving mysteries, and drawing.

Right now I'm in the living room of my Aunt Eloise's house in Florida with my boyfriend, Nancy would've come too but she and Ned wanted to spend more time together.

My boyfriend is Chase Nickerson, Ned Nickerson's brother. He's sweet, smart, great with mechanics, funny, and a bit of a pervert at times. He's 16 years old, 5"8', 6-pack, strong chest, and arms that I love having wrapped around me. We've been dating for three months so far and it's been wonderful.

Right now I'm going over a letter I wrote to dad.

Dear Dad,

Who would've dreamed taking a vacation to visit Aunt Eloise in Florida would result in a case. A murder case no less. A student named Jake Rodgers was found dead at the high school and an unknown police detective wants me and Chase to pose as students to search for any leads at the school. Be sure to let Nancy know about this.

Love, Athena.

After putting the letter in an envelope I put in in my satchel bag and went over to Chase, who was looking through some of my aunts books.

"Find anything good?" I asked teasingly.

He looked at me and smirked, "No, just some flower books and a book on passwords and codes."

"Well, I finished my letter to dad and Aunt Eloise left a note saying that if we need to use the library for research the key's in the safe." I said.

"Might as well grab it before we leave then, it'd be too troublesome to just come back for it." He said.

I giggled and stood on my tiptoes, damn I'm short, to ruffle his already messy brown hair. "All those brains yet your still so lazy." I said.

He chuckled and took my hand away from his hair, "Whatever you say shorty."

That caused me to scowl, he knows I hate being called that. I turned away from him, crossing my arms.

"Aw come on baby girl…" he hugged me from behind, "you're too pretty to have that look on your face." He tickled my sides causing me to giggle, "There's the smile I love."

I rolled my eyes and got out of his hold, "Okay enough playing around, let's get that key and go."

He chuckled, "Yes ma'am."

We went over to a tapestry that was in the foyer and moved it revealing my aunt's safe, only problem is I don't know the combination. Aunt Eloise said that if I put in the wrong combination three times a cage will fall on me and I do not want to deal with that.

"She must've written it down somewhere, let's look around." Chase said.

I nodded and we started looking and about 10 minutes later Chase spoke up.

"Hey babe, I found it. Put in Sigma Phi Kappa Delta." He said.

I did what he said and the safe opened as he came back over to me. Inside was a couple books, a little box and the key. I took the key and put it in my satchel and Chase started doing the slider puzzle on the little box.

"Chase, why are you messing with that?" I asked.

He shrugged, "You never know babe." He finished the puzzle, "Got it!"

Inside was a simple slip of paper that read:

School's Computer

Login name: Eloise Drew

Password: O Wise Elder

Chase smirked at me, "See, useful."

I rolled my eyes but smirked back, "Okay Mr. Braggy Pants let's get going."

He smiled and took my hand in his as we walked to the door. But before we could walk out my phone rang. I took it out and put it on speaker.

"Athena Drew? Detective Beech here. How are you?" the detective asked.

"Good and yourself?" I asked.

"Frustrated Athena. I need some leads and you're my man…or…woman, teen, student, whatever. I'll be at Maxine's Diner- come see me when you or Chase have found out anything. All contact should be through me." Detective Beech said.

"You got it. What's our cover anyway?" I asked.

"Our what?" he asked.

"Our cover? You know, what I say if someone should see you, me and Chase together?" I asked.

"Oh…right. I'll be you're Uncle. Uncle Steve." He sounds like he just made that up. "I gotta go now- if you need anything else come see me at Maxine's. I'm wearing glasses and a green stripped shirt." He said then hung up.

"Sounds like a weird guy." Chase said as I put my phone up.

"Weird or not we should probably talk to him in person before we head to the high school." I said.

We left the house, I put the letter in the mail box, and we started walking to Maxine's.


	2. Chapter 2: Maxine's Diner

(Athena's POV)

As soon as we walked in we were greeted by a blonde guy behind the counter.

"Welcome to Maxine's- I'm Daryl Grey. I don't think I've seen you two here before." The guy said.

"My name's Athena Drew and this is Chase Nickerson. We just moved down here." I said.

"Then you'll be attending Paseo del Mar High. I'm your student council president. If there's anything you need just let me know." Daryl said mostly looking at me.

"Thanks, we might just take you up on that." I said.

"So…what can I do for you two?" Daryl asked.

"What can you tell us about this place?" Chase asked looking around the Diner.

"Maxine's is the best restaurant in Florida. The place is usually packed. I guess all the police that were camping out here scared the kids away. Now there's just a creepy old guy hanging around wearing an ugly green shirt." Daryl said.

I raised an eyebrow, "Daryl, that's my Uncle."

Daryl's eyes widened, "Oops- oh, sorry Athena. Quick, Daryl, change the subject!"

I laughed lightly, "It's okay, no offence taken."

"You said there were a lot of police here, what happened?" Chase asked.

"One of the students was murdered at the school last week." Daryl said.

"What happened?" I asked in false confusion.

"Someone beat up this guy, Jake Rodgers, and then threw him down a flight of stairs. He worked here but I didn't really know him…kept manly to himself." Daryl said.

"Who did it?" Chase asked in false surprised.

"No one knows, and the police are keeping pretty clammed up about it. But my resources say that their calling in some special detective, maybe even the FBI." Daryl said.

"Did this Jake guy have any enemies?" I asked.

"Sure- doesn't everyone?" There was a pause, "I should get back to work, nice meeting you two." Daryl said.

"You too." I said.

Chase nudged me when Daryl wasn't looking and pointed to a man who must've been Detective Beech.

We walked over to him, "Uncle Steve!" I said trying to sound casual.

"Athena! Why I haven't seen you since…uh…for a long time. How's your…" He trailed off.

"Aunt…Aunt Eloise." I whispered. "Oh she's fine and Dad says hello."

"You two are staying with your Aunt right?" Detective Beech asked me.

"Yes." I said.

"So…what do you two got for me?" he asked.

"We were hoping you could debrief us on the investigation." Chase said.

"Oh sure, sure, sure. I'm just a bit…well, my undercover assignments are usually not so…suburban." Detective Beech said.

"We understand." I said.

"The victim was a senor named Jake Rodgers. As usual none of the family, teachers, or students know about any enemies he may have had. Nothing came up from searching his home, computer, cell phone, or locker. His bank records tell a different story. He had a fairly large savings account and a lot of cash deposits. We suspect he was involved in something shady- drugs, gambling, or blackmail. That's where you two fit in- talk to the students and see what you can find out. We think he might have kept information about his activities in a notebook or journal, so keep a look-out for anything like that. Anything else?" Detective Beech asked.

"No that's everything. See ya." I said.

"See you later." He said then Chase and I left Maxine's.

"Let's get to the High School." Chase said.

I nodded and we started walking.


	3. Chapter 3: Meeting the Students

(Athena's POV)

When we got to the school we stared walking around till we finally saw one of the students in a study room. She looked about 17 with tan skin and short brown hair wearing a medallion with what looked like Kanji on it.

She noticed us and smiled, "Hi, I'm Connie. You two aren't from around here are you? Usually Paseo del Mar High is really quiet and boring? Lately it's been totally out of control."

"Is it that obvious we're new here?" I asked with a light laugh.

"I'm a school monitor, so I have to notice these things." Connie said.

"You're very observant." I said.

"We girls have to stick together. There are a lot of wolves walking around campus." Connie said.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked raising an eyebrow.

"You wouldn't want to waste your time with any of the guys at this school trust me. There all a bunch of self-centered jerks." Connie said.

"Well you won't have to worry about that." I said as Chase wrapped his arm around me.

Connie's face showed realization, "Oh, I get it. Nice choice girl, he's cute."

I giggled, "Thanks. But are all the guys really that bad?"

"Well, there are a few who are cool. Jake Rodgers was not one of them." Connie said narrowing her eyes.

"I take it he wasn't very popular." Chase said.

"I avoided him whenever I could." Connie said.

"Why?" I asked.

"Jake was rude, dishonest, self-centered, and manipulative…I gotta go now later." Connie said then looked back at her book.

Obviously the subject of Jake Rodgers was uncomfortable for her.

Chase and I looked at each other before leaving the room. We went to the next room to see another student. He was Asian with black hair, probably 18.

"Hi I'm Athena Drew and this is Chase Nickerson. What's your name?" I asked.

"Hal Tanaka. Actually, my first name is much longer than that. But I wanted to fit in here in America, so I chose Hal as my nickname. I'm a Japanese exchange student." He said.

"Why would you think it's easier to have an American name?" Chase asked.

"I want to be part of the culture and succeed in this country." Hal said.

"Do you plan on staying in America after High School?" I asked.

"My family is counting on me to succeed here. I must make them proud of me." Hal said.

"What's been going on around here lately?" Chase asked.

"A murder was committed here. Everyone is very stressed out." Hal said.

"What happened?" Chase asked.

"I heard Jake Rodgers was pushed down a flight of stairs." Hal said.

"Did you know him?" I asked.

"Not really. Only by reputation." Hal said.

"Reputation?" Chase asked.

"I feel uncomfortable speaking about this now. Please excuse me." Hal said then went back to his book.

Chase and I left the room, "So far everyone seems uncomfortable when the subject of Jake is brought up." I said.

"Seem like it. That'll make it hard to get information out of people." Chase said.

We kept walking around till we saw another student that looked like a jock, tan skin, black hair, mostly likely 18.

"Excuse me." I said walking up to him.

"Whoa, a new girl at school. Do you realize what destiny has brought you today? Yours truly, Hector Sanchez, but you can just call me 'The Hulk'." The jock told me in a flirty tone, completely ignoring Chase.

"How'd you know I was new?" I asked.

"Hey, you're talking to 'The Man', the number one football player in the state of Florida. I know all the beautiful girls at Paseo del Mar High, are you kidding?" Hector asked.

"That's sweet, I think, but I have a boyfriend." I said as Chase wrapped an arm around me.

"Bummer, but I'm sure you'll come to your senses." Hector said winking at me.

I felt Chase's muscles tense in anger, "Anyway…Do you know the guy who was killed." I asked.

"I knew Jake. But I didn't hang out with him. Sorry, can't talk now. I gotta go to practice. Later." Hector said.

"Wait, before you go, what can you tell us about Connie Watson?" I asked.

"She hangs out at the gym a lot. I heard she's been having a real tough time." Hector said.

"Tough time?" Chase asked.

"I heard she's been having some money problems." Hector said.

"What about Daryl Grey?" I asked.

"He seems like a cool guy. His family used to sponsor the annual football awards dinner until last year. You know he's the one who found Jakes body." Hector said.

"And Hal Tanaka?" I asked.

"That dude is always studying. He's a huge fan of mine. Real smart guy! But I never understood why a brain like Tanaka would hang out with slim like Jake." Hector said.

Chase raised an eyebrow, "They were friends?"

"Let's just say I saw them talking together a lot. Jake's locker was right next to Hal's." Hector said.

"But they weren't really friends, is that it?" I asked.

"Jake didn't really have friends, and Hal…he may seem pretty chill, but I've seen him crack a couple times. He's seriously uptight." Hector said.

"Crack?" I asked.

"He's got a temper, a bad one. He lets the pressure build and build until he's wound so tight the slightest thing sets him off. Last week, I strike him out during gym and he goes ballistic and charges the mound. He's got some serious issues. Now that I think of it, last time I saw them together, Hal seemed pretty upset." Hector said.

"Talk to you later." I said.

"Bye sweetheart." He said before Chase and I left.

"Chase don't listen to him." I said feeling his muscles tense again.

"I don't like when other guys flirt with you." He said.

I giggled, "You know none of them could compare to you."

He smiled and squeezed my shoulder.

We passed by a soda machine and Chase stopped, "What's wrong?" I asked.

"I was thinking, you know how the teacher's lounge is in the study hall where Connie is?" I nodded, "Well, since she's a school monitor she won't just let us walk right on in. So I was thinking we'd distract her."

"How?" I asked raising an eyebrow.

He smirked, "While you were doing most of the talking with the students I saw some odd notes on the bulletin boards. One of them mentioned an alarm in the soda machine. So we set it off, tell Connie and it gives us at least eight to ten minutes to check the teacher's lounge for anything that might be useful."

I smiled and kissed him, "You're a genius."

"I know." He said then hit grape, grape, orange, cool causing the alarm to go off.

"Now let's get to Connie." I said.

We went to the study hall Connie was in, "Hey Connie, someone set off the alarm to the soda machine." I said.

"Ugggh! Watch the fort while I'm gone." Connie said then left.


	4. Chapter 4: Threatining Phone Call

(Athena's POV)

"Come on." Chase tried to open the door to the teacher's lounge but it was locked, "Dammit!"

"I got this." I said.

I pulled out a hair pin from my satchel and started picking the lock. I got it opened easily and we walked in.

"I'll log on to the computer, you look around for anything useful." I told Chase.

"You got it." He said then started looking around. I went to a computer and logged it using Aunt Eloise's log in.

I looked through passwords, maintenance and her mail before I hit the print button for a security report. I logged off and went over to the printer.

"Hey Chase, look at this. Apparently Daryl, Connie, Hal and Hector was in school the night Jake died." I said.

"Interesting. All I could find was an article on Daryl's father's company going bankrupt and Hal's final English essay." Chase said.

"Well, let's get out of here before Connie comes back." I said.

He nodded and as soon as we left my phone went off. I looked at the Caller I.D. to see that it was someone named Mitch Dillon.

"Hello?" I asked.

"You better stop your nosy nosing or it'll get bent way outta shape!" he said then hung up.

"Well that was freaky. Wonder who Mitch Dillon is." I said.

"Someone who's gonna be getting their balls fed to them for threatening you." Chase said.

I couldn't help but laugh at his protectiveness before he suddenly snatched my phone from me. "Hey!"

Before I could stop him he called the guy back. I could hear his voice through the phone.

"Dillon Heating, Ventilation, Air-Conditioning, and Cooling, how may I help you?" Mitch asked.

"Hey, this is Chase Nickerson. You called my girlfriend and threatened her." Chase said.

"No I didn't. I have no idea what you're talking about." Mitch said.

"Yeah you did, we saw your caller I.D. number." Chase said.

"No I didn't." Mitch said.

"Yes you did." Chase said.

"No I didn't. Ummmm…I'm sorry sir if you're having trouble with your air-conditioning we'll send a technician to find a permanent solution." Mitch said.

"I'm not talking about air-conditioning, I'm talking about you threatening my girlfriend!" Chase said.

"I didn't threaten her!" Mitch said.

"Okay, I'm not going to play this game with you." Chase said then hung up.

"I can't believe you did that." I said as he gave me my phone.

"He threatened you baby girl. I had to do something." He said.

"Well…I guess that was kinda sweet." I kissed him, "Come on, I want to see if we can get into Jake's locker." I said.

"Actually I think I know the combination." Chase said.

"How?" I asked.

"Those odd notes on the bulletin boards mentioned something about it. If you look at Jake's name on a phone the numbers read 5253. So I figured that must be it." Chase said.

"Oh Chase, you never fail to impress me." I said.

He smirked, "Good to know." He said putting an arm around me.

We walked to Jake's locker and Chase entered the combination. Inside was an empty video case, a judo magazine that had an article about a masked contestant, and a book on English essays.

Chase picked it up and opened it on a page that was tabbed with a piece of paper, "Hal's English essay is the same as this one. Must've plagiarized it."

He put the book back and I picked up a newspaper that told of a break-in at the pharmacy and a bunch of Hectinol, which I think is a steroid, was taken.

"I think that's everything. Come on, we should search the library now." I said.

He nodded and we started walking, when we got to the library I took the key out of my satchel and unlocked it.

"Let's split up." Chase said. I nodded and we started searching.

After about 10 minutes the only thing I came up with was a book on Kanji, I learned that the symbol on Connie's medallion meant Crane.

Then Chase spoke up.

"Athena, are you by the computers?" he asked from over by the maps.

"Yeah, why?" I asked.

"Go on one and enter Jake's locker combination." He said.

I did what he said, "It says, 'Evidence, J. Rodgers, under my seat'." I said, "I think his seat might be on the upper level."

We walked up the stairs and started looking for his seat. We found it when we saw a notepad that said 'Jake was here'.

Chase looked through the Chemistry book that was on the table and found a list and symbols written on the book. I looked under the seat and pulled out a funky box.

"Says the first step is on the matchbook at Maxine's." Chase said reading the list.

"Guess we're heading there then." I said putting the box back.

We left the school and went to Maxine's, I walked up to Daryl while Chase went to the kitchen to get the match box.

"What can I do for you?" Daryl asked.

"I heard that you found Jake's body, is that true?" I asked.

"Yeah- I did. The student council president gets keys to the school. We had an early morning council meeting and…I found him lying there. It was the worst thing I ever experienced in my life. And…I really don't want to talk about this right now." Daryl said.

"Do you know Connie Watson?" I asked.

"Not that well- she keeps to herself a lot. I've always thought that there was something…mysterious about her. Kind of the same way I feel about you." Daryl said leaning a little closer to me.

I felt Chase walk up behind me and I could tell he was glaring at Daryl.

I backed up a little, "Thanks for the complement, but I'm already seeing someone." I said pointing to Chase.

"That's cool- I'm just saying, not playing." Daryl said.

"Well, see ya later." I said.

"Bye Athena." Daryl said.

"I swear babe, the next guy that flirts with you is getting punched in the face." Chase said as we walked away from Daryl.

I couldn't help but giggle, "Did you find the matchbox?"

"No, someone ripped it out." He said.

"Strange. Let's just talk to Detective Beech real quick." I said.

He nodded and we sat in front of the detective. "Hi Athena, Chase."

"I think you should know that I got that threatening phone call from someone named Mitch Dillon." I said.

"Interesting. Mitch is a suspect we're looking into and he probably caught wind that you're snooping around. But I wouldn't pay him much attention. If he does anything else, let me know and we'll take care of him." Detective Beech said.

"How is he involved?" Chase asked.

"You don't need to know at the time. Just concentrate on the students and finding Jake's journal. We have Mitch covered." Detective Beech said.

Journal?

"When the police looked through Jake's locker, did they take a video tape?" I asked.

"No…we didn't. You're thinking there's something important on that tape- important enough that Jake hid it." Detective Beech said.

"Something like that." I said.

"Good lead- find that video tape you two." Detective Beech said.

"We found a notepad in the library that seems like a message from Jake." Chase said.

"Really? Tell me more." Detective Beech said.

"It says 'things to remember me' and it seems to give clues about 'the answer to my fate lies in a box'." Chase said.

"This is the best lead we've had- I think it could break the case! Follow whatever directions he gave to find this box. His journal could be in there. Excellent work you two. But remember, you need to keep a low profile and be careful." Detective Beech said.

"Right, see ya around." I said.

"Goodbye you two." He said before we left Maxine's.


	5. Chapter 5: Confronting Students

(Athena's POV)

We walked back to the school to see if we can get anything out of the students.

First we went to Connie, "Hey Connie." I said.

She smiled at me, "Hey Athena, need something?"

"I couldn't help but notice that your medallion means Crane. And Crane is the name of a Judo school on a poster in the gym." I said.

"What a coincidence. Funny, I never noticed." She said. "I gotta go now, later."

Chase and I left, "She seemed pretty anxious to end the conversation." Chase said.

"Means she's hiding something." I said.

We went to the other study room and went up to Hal.

"Hey Hal, have you heard of Hulk Sanchez?" Chase asked.

"Heard of him? Hulk hold the conference record for quarterback sacks. He's been the states number one player since he was a freshman. He's also a candidate for a big university, even with his injury." Hal said.

"Injury?" Chase asked.

"Hulk got hurt a few weeks ago. Ever since that game, he hasn't played the same. I worry that his chance of playing for a top school are not as good as before his injury." Hal said.

"You plagiarized you your senior essay on etiquette and Jake new about it." I said bluntly.

"Yes, Athena. I'm very ashamed. My family will be extremely unhappy about this terrible mistake I have made. Somehow Jake found out I copied that old essay. Then he blackmailed me into doing his homework for him." Hal said.

"Why did you copy the essay?" I asked.

"I had no other choice. My family won't let me stay in the United States unless I get a scholarship next year. I had to take extra courses to earn the scholarship. Before I realized what I had done, I was buried in work. I copied the essay because I was desperate." Hal said.

"What happened when Jake found out?" Chase asked.

"Jake demanded I do all his homework for the rest of the semester or he would tell my family everything. What else could I do? My family was depending on me to succeed." Hal said.

"Were you desperate enough to kill him?" Chase asked narrowing his eyes.

"I was not happy about the situation, but I would never kill anyone. I value human life. Please, don't tell anyone about this. I beg you. You will gain nothing if you do, and it would destroy my family if they knew what really happened. I regret what I have done. Please let me have this chance to become a doctor. I promise to make up for the mistake, even if it takes the rest of my life." Hal said.

"But if you didn't kill Jake, do you have any idea who did?" I asked.

"When I delivered Jake's homework to him the other day, he mentioned being late for a meeting with Daryl Grey. It was very strange. I didn't know they were friends." Hal said.

"Well, bye." I said.

"Goodbye." He said.

Chase and I left the study hall and started walking to the gym.

"I trust Hal. The way he acted back there, I just don't think he could've done it." I said.

"Agreed." Chase said.

When we got to the gym we walked up to Hector.

"How's it going?" he asked when he saw us.

"Do you know anything about the robbery at the Pharmacy?" Chase asked.

"Why would I know about a robbery? All I know is football." Hector said.

"I'm really sorry about your injury. Does that effect your chances of playing college ball?" I asked.

"I had a little sprain, no big deal. Within a week I was better than before, and impressing the football scouts. I'm as strong as ever." Hector said.

"Hm, that's good to know. Talk to you later." I said.

"Bye." He said before we walked off.

"Let's try talking to Daryl again." I said.

Chase nodded and we left the school. When we got to Maxine's we walked up to Daryl.

"Hey Daryl." I said.

"Hey gorgeous. Glad you stopped by." Daryl said causing Chase to growl and squeeze my shoulder.

I sighed, "Daryl, I appreciate the complement but my boyfriend's right here." I said.

"Hey, I'm just saying what I'm seeing." Daryl said nervously.

"So what's been going on?" I asked.

"Well, your Uncle isn't here if that's who you're looking for. I'm sorry for saying this but he's kind of a Mr. Crankypants." Daryl said.

"What do you mean?" Chase asked.

"He's on edge from drinking all of our coffee and last week he seriously freaked out of me." Daryl said.

My eyebrows creased, "What happened?"

"I dunno- he lost something in the Diner and accused us of stealing it. He went kind of psycho." Daryl said.

"Hal Tanaka told us Jake said he had a meeting with you once. But you said you hardly knew him." Chase said.

"Yeah- I dunno. Maybe he had to talk to me about work." Daryl said.

"Talk to you later." I said.

"Oh, before I forget. Someone left this note for you two." Daryl gave an envelope to me, "It was on the counter when I got back from break."

I raised an eyebrow but opened it.

I have the solution to your mystery.

Meet me in the basement of the maintenance room at the High school.

"Thanks for this." I said putting it in my satchel.

"Bye Athena." Daryl said before we left.

"Do you know where the maintenance room might be?" I asked Chase.

"Yeah, I saw a map of the school online. It won't take long to get there." He said.


	6. Chapter 6: It's a Trap!

(Athena's POV)

When we got to school Chase led me to a door that had 'Maintenance Room' on it. We walked up to the handle to see that it had a keypad in brail on it.

"I know that the password it NOTE, but do you know brail?" I asked.

Chase nodded, "Yeah, I looked through a book about it in the library."

He pushed in the password causing the light to turn green and the door to open. We walked in and I pushed the button to the service elevator. When we got to the basement no one was there.

"That's odd." I said as we walked in.

"Uh babe, I think we got a problem." Chase said pointing to the boiler.

I looked to see that someone set it to full blast and tied it off with a chain and padlock.

"God dammit! It's a trap!" I said.

"I can fix this but we need to get the chain off before we run out of time!" Chase said.

I looked around for something that could break the lock and managed to find a large rock. I grabbed it and started hitting the lock.

Thud

Thud

Thud

Thud-Clash!

I smiled as the pad lock fell to the ground, the chain falling with it.

"Nice job babe." Chase said then put on some gloves he found and went to work.

He started pulling the levers to fix the gauges and he managed to get it to its correct setting.

"Thank god." I said sighed in relief. Something caught my eye. By the air vent gate was a video tape. "Strange." I said picking it up and putting it in my satchel.

"Hey Athena, found that missing match box." Chase said holding it up.

"That's great, what's inside it?" I asked walking over to him.

He lift the flap, "A symbol." He said showing me.

"Great job, let's get going." I said.

We walked over to the elevator, only to find out it wasn't working.

"Whoever did this must've rigged the elevator." Chase said.

"Our only other way out is through the vent." I said.

"Let's got then." Chase said.

He took off the gate and we crawled through to the other side, which led us outside the school.

"Let's get back to the house and give this tape a watch." I said.

"Hopefully something useful is on it." Chase said.

We went back to Aunt Eloise's house and went to the living room. I took the tape out of my satchel and put it in the VCR.

The first image was a box from the Pharmacy in a locker. Hands came in to grab the box and lowered to reveal Hector.

"So he stole the drugs from the pharmacy." I said.

"They were a steroid too. Must've been because of his injury." Chase said.

Next image was someone in a mask opening a locker. The person took off the mask revealing Connie as she put a trophy in her locker.

"So Connie must be the mask competitor from the Judo competition." Chase said.

"That explains the medallion from the Judo school." I said.

Then it was Hal copying the essay in the Library.

"This must've been the missing tape from Jake's locker." I said.

"He was probably blackmailing everyone." Chase said.

"Let's get to the diner and talk to Detective Beech." I said.

"If he's there." Chase said as we left.

We went to Maxine's and walked up to Daryl,

"So, how'd it go with the mysterious note leaving guy?" He asked.

"Not that great, let's leave it at that." I said.

"Good- so I'm still in the running for you." Daryl said.

"Daryl! Boyfriend. Right here!" I said.

"Okay, okay- I get the picture." Daryl said.

"Bye." Chase said dragging me away.

Since Detective Beech still wasn't there we just went back to the school.

"Let's start by confronting Connie about being in Judo then we'll talk to Hector about the drugs." I said.

Chase nodded and we went to the study room.

"Hey Connie." I said.

"Hey Athena. Need something?" she asked.

"Look, we know you're the unknown winner of the Judo competition. Jake Rodgers had it all on video." I said.

"Yes, Athena. I'm the mysterious winner of the men's tournament. It wasn't easy for me, and I'm proud of what I did." Connie said.

"Did you kill Jake because he knew?" Chase asked.

"Are you crazy? Of course not. I didn't kill Jake." Connie said.

"We believe you Connie. Good bye." I said.

"Adios." Connie said before we left.

"Do you really believe her?" Chase asked.

"She may have had a motive but I doubt she could actually kill someone. Let's go talk to Hector now." I said.

We got to him, he didn't look all that happy to see us.

"Look, do me a favor and go bother someone else." He said.

"Listen Hulk, Jake new you stole from the Pharmacy. He's been blackmailing you, right?" Chase asked.

"Yeah, he found out I stole the steroids and threated to turn me over to the cops. It would have meant the end of my football career if I didn't cooperate." Hector said.

"But why steal the steroids?" I asked.

"I got hurt really bad in a game a few weeks back. Broke four ribs and cracked two others. I had to keep playing, even though I was hurt. I needed to impress the scouts. Then I started taking steroids. It wasn't worth it because I was still in pain and all my free time was spent playing errand boy for Jake." Hector said.

"Did you kill him?" Chase asked.

"I'm not a killer, Chase. I didn't do it! The last thing Jake had me do was deliver a note to Daryl Grey. It was in a sealed envelope, so I couldn't read it. My bet is Jake was blackmailing Daryl." Hector said.

"We gotta go." I said.

"Bye." He said before we left.

"Well we got nothing out of that." I said.

"Let's check that box in the library and see if it can help." Chase said.

I nodded, "Okay." I said.


	7. Chapter 7: Jake's Box

(Athena's POV)

We went to the library and up to Jake's chair. "You think you can open it?" I asked handing Chase the box.

"Yeah, I've been seeing these little symbols Jake was talking about all over school." Chase said then started pushing buttons.

When he was done it opened revealing another video tape.

"Another one?" I asked picking it up.

"Before we watch it lets confront Daryl about his connection with Jake." Chase said.

"Alright." I said putting the tape in my satchel.

We left the school and went to Maxine's.

"Hey Daryl." I said as we walked in.

"What can I do for you?" Daryl asked.

"Hulk Sanchez said he saw you delivering an envelope to Jake." I said.

"Okay- so I gave him an envelope. Big deal- it was about a school project I'm working on. What is it with all these questions? I'm starting to wonder who you two are exactly. I'm out of here. If Maxine drops by, make up a good excuse about why I had to leave. See you around." He said then left.

"Touchy." Chase said.

"Whatever that envelope was defiantly wasn't about a project. Looks like Detective Beech is back, let's go talk to him." I said.

We walked over and sat down.

"Athena, Chase- you both look terrible. What happened? Are you okay?" Detective Beech asked.

"Somebody set a trap for us at the school." Chase said placing an arm around my shoulder.

"We're pretty sure it was Mitch Dillon who set it up." I said.

"Okay, we'll handle this and get Mitch off the street. We can't charge him now or we'll blow our cover. But once this investigation is done, I guarantee you he'll pay for this." Detective Beech said.

"Daryl mentioned that you lost something last week." Chase said.

"Yes- I lost my wallet. A lot of my undercover contact information is in the wallet- including yours. You can imagine what would happen if that information fell into the wrong hands." Detective Beech said.

"Did you find it?" I asked.

"It was in my hotel room all along. I think I was drinking too much coffee- it's starting to affect my mind." Detective Beech said.

"We found the tape Jake made- it showed some students Jake was blackmailing." I said.

"Was one of the students Daryl Grey?" Detective Beech asked.

"No." Chase said.

"That's surprising. My intuition says that Blonde Burger Boy is involved in this somehow. Good lead, but we really need to find that journal of Jake's." Detective Beech said.

"We think a student might've killed Jake because he was blackmailing him…or her." I said.

"You're getting great leads, but 'think' and 'may have' are not good enough. We need to find hard evidence, like Jake's journal." Detective Beech said.

"Good bye." I said.

"Good bye." He said.

We left Maxine's and started walking to Aunt Eloise's house.

"Is it me or does he seem pretty hung up on that journal?" Chase said.

"It is odd, but let's think about that after we watch the tape." I said.

"Right." He said.


	8. Chapter 8: The Culprit

(Athena's POV)

When we got to the house I put the tape in.

It showed Daryl working at Maxine's and it sounded like Jake was talking in the background.

"This is a story of a student council president gone terribly bad. Let's take a look at what kind of homework he's bringing home from daddy's top secret military industrial aerospace factory." The camera zoomed in on blueprints, "But what does Daryl do with this stuff? He's too stupid to know what it really all means…BUT…he's not too stupid to know how much these industrial secrets are worth." The image changed to an envelope filled with hundreds, "You see, Daryl's selling out to our local air conditioning guy, Mitch Dillon. Not sure what a guy specializing in HVAC does with satellite schematics, telemetry encoding and signature intelligence but I'm sure whatever it is…" It showed a note Jake wrote fir Mitch, "…it's not exactly legal…but it's probably worth a lot of money to Mitch to keep it quiet!" image showed static then changed to the front of Maxine's, "BREAKING NEWS! Check it out- I found out who Mitch is selling his secrets to Daryl to…" It showed Detective Beech!

"Oh my god." I said.

"We've been played." Chase said clenching his fist.

"This dude! Can you imagine? This dorkoid is the ring leader of some kind of clearing house for military secrets?" It showed a brown leather journal, "And Mr. Clueless just forgot his journal full of important notes like contact numbers, system passwords, project code names, amounts paid, etc. etc."

"So the journal he's been obsessed about wasn't Jake's but his." Chase said.

"Seems like it." I said.

"And some other stuff I don't understand but I can tell that this guy will pay top dollar to get it back. But just in case should anything happen to me, I'm putting the journal in a safe place." It switched to a book cart, "I taped it underneath one of the book carts at the school. But I doubt he'll give me much trouble, just a ton of cash. So if you find this video, come look me up!" It showed a pamphlet of a place called Dread Isle, "I'll probably be long gone from Paseo del Mar and tanning my bod on my very own private island, retired at 17." Then the video ended.

"My god, we've got to get that journal and take it to the police." I said.

"Right with you babe." Chase said.

Suddenly we heard the door open, "Aunt Eloise? Is that you?" I asked.

I turned off the TV and we went to the foyer but it wasn't Aunt Eloise…

I gasped, "Detective Beech. We weren't expecting you." I said grabbing Chase's hand.

"I just thought I'd come by and see how you're doing. You two seem kind of in a hurry. Did you find the journal?" Detective Beech asked.

Chase glared at him, "Yeah, we found your journal."

"My what?" Detective Beech asked.

"Jake's journal." I corrected, "We found Jake's journal."

"No…he said 'my' journal. He said that you two found MY journal." Detective Beech pulled out a gun, "Why don't we step into the living room and have a nice chat about where my journal is, hm? Oh and why don't you give me your cell phones. I'd hate to be interrupting during out little tete-a-tete." He said.

We gave him our phones, "So this Detective Beech and undercover assignment was just a ruse to get us to find your journal. You killed Jake, didn't you?" I asked.

"Yes, I did con you two into this undercover charade and you just ate it up. I mean, you had the lingo, the self-important attitude- you're a real Snoopy Susie, aren't you? But as far as murder goes-no. That was my 'former' partner Mitch Dillon. But stop with this delaying tactic, Detective Athena. Where's my journal?" he asked.

That's when an idea came to me, "It's in the entrance, behind the tapestry."

When he left Chase looked at me, "What are you doing?" he whispered.

"If we can get him to enter three wrong combinations a cage will fall on him. That's when we can call the cops." I whispered back.

"What's the combination?"

"Kappa, Lambda, Kappa, Sigma." Chase said.

We heard a buzz, "That's not it, Chase!"

"Mu, Pi, Phi, Zeta." I said.

Another buzz, "You're trying my patience Detective Drew. What's the combination?"

Chase smirked, "Delta, Delta, Delta, Delta."

Another buzz and clash!

"HEY! What the…Get me out of here, Athena Drew and Chase Nickerson!"

We walked up to the cage smirking, "I'm sure the police will be happy to transfer you…to another set of bars. So long Detective Beech and hello Prisoner #4321A!" I said.


	9. Chapter 9: Epilouge

(Athena's POV)

After the police came by and took Detective Beech away I started writing a letter to dad.

Dear dad,

Case closed! Mitch Dillon and his boss formally known as 'Detective' Beech are on their way to prison.

The police still don't know his real identity, but his trade in top secret information has been stopped thanks to Aunt Eloise's burglar proof safe!

Daryl has confessed to selling information about his father's military projects. Despite the damage this has caused Grey enterprises, Daryl's father has forgiven him.

Connie returned her trophy, but the judo club refused to take it and is opening their competitions to women next year.

Hulk agreed to pay for the damages to the pharmacy and Hal got his scholarships.

And Chase and I are going back to the beach where the only cover that we're going to go under is a beach blanket.

See you soon!

Love, Athena.

I put the letter in an envelope and put in my beach bag to send when Chase and I got back to the house. I laid back down on my beach blanket, soaking up the sun and relaxation. Suddenly, I felt a shadow loom over me and lifted my sunglasses to see a shirtless Chase grinning at me.

"Chase, I love you but you're blocking my sun." I said.

"Had to get your attention somehow babe." He said sitting down next to me.

"Well you got it. So what did you need?" I asked sitting up.

"I got you a little something." He said giving me a small box.

"Chase, you didn't have to get me anything." I said taking it.

"I know but I saw it and thought it would be a nice reminder of our time here." He said.

I looked at him once more before opening the box. Inside was a lovely silver manatee necklace.

I smiled, "It's wonderful Chase."

He smiled back, "Glad you think so."

"Help me put it on?" I asked taking it out of the box.

He nodded and took it from me. I turned around and moved my hair so it wouldn't be in the way. His arms came around me and I felt the cool metal on my breast as clasped the necklace.

I let my hair fall again as I turned around to face him. Chase smiled softly, "Beautiful." He said.

I blushed and looked down, he lifted my chin up causing me to look at him again. We gazed into each other's eyes for a moment, till he leaned down and kiss me. I smiled into the kiss as I wrapped an arm around his neck and he placed and hand on my cheek. Oh, how I love him.


End file.
